Taking a Day Off

Well, we have made it to Friday. Yesterday, after feeling crummy for several days, I decided to take a sick day today (which is something I can well afford to do, given that I seem to have 90+ sick days saved up) so I can just rest. It's a rainy, miserable day here, so it's a good one to spend sitting and knitting.

One thing I will be doing today is making challah to take to Friday night dinner at my parents' tonight. I know I've shared photos of my challahs before, but I don't think I've actually shared the recipe, so I thought I would do that today in case you'd like to bake up a loaf or two yourself.

The last challah I baked, when we were in Florida

Chani's Sweet Challah
While this recipe can be made without a stand mixer, I highly recommend using one if you have one unless you want an extra arm workout!

Ingredients:
    1 tbsp active dry yeast
    1/2 tsp sugar
    1 cup warm water
    2 eggs (+ extra for brushing)
    3/4 cups sugar
    4 cups flour
    1 1/2 tsp salt
    3 tbsp vegetable oil
    raisins (optional; allow to soak in warm water to rehydrate before adding)

Dissolve yeast, 1/2 tsp sugar, and warm water in mixing bowl. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes, until fairly bubbly. Add the rest of the sugar, oil, and eggs and whisk until very fluffy. Add salt and mix.

Gradually add flour cup by cup (use mixing blade to start and change to dough hook when dough becomes thick enough). Add raisins, if using. Knead until smooth. Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover. Place in oven on proof/prove setting over a pan of hot water and allow to rise for 60-90 minutes.

Form into loaf/loaves and brush with egg mixed with some water. Place back into oven and allow to rise for one hour. Bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes.

This recipe will make one large loaf or two smaller loaves. And I have no idea who Chani is -- her name was on the recipe when I got it from a friend!

I hope you enjoy the challah if you bake some, and I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

Eye Candy Friday, Shabbat Edition

Happy Friday, all! I am happy to see the end of the week, even though we're expecting a gloomy weekend ahead. I know I don't normally post on Friday, but as I've posted every other weekday this week, why break the streak?

Today I wanted to share one amazing benefit of working from home -- I have time to bake fresh challah for Shabbat. It was the first item on my 21 in 2021 list and the first one I crossed off the list, but it's something I hope to be able to do regularly this year.

I was posting photos from the steps involved in making these freshly baked loaves in my Instagram stories, and Eileen asked if I'd share the recipe, so I figured it was as good an excuse as any to post here! This recipe came to us from a friend of the Mister's who has started baking challahs every Friday with her daughter (who goes to school with Rainbow) that they then give out to friends and family. Be forewarned that this recipe makes A LOT of challah; what you see here is actually the result of making half of the recipe. A stand mixer is highly recommended for making this dough.

Chani's Sweet Challah

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 cups + 1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups warm water
3 eggs, plus an additional for the egg wash
8 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
6 tablespoons vegetable oil

Dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar in warm water in the mixer bowl (allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes, until it's quite bubbly). Add the rest of the sugar, eggs, and oil and whisk until very fluffy. Add the salt and mix.

Gradually add the flour, cup by cup. You can use the mixing blade attachment for the first half and switch to the kneading hook for the second half. If needed, dump out onto the counter and knead until smooth.

Oil a large bowl (cooking spray/Pam works well) and place the dough in it, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the dough and place it in the oven with a pan of hot water beneath the bowl*. Let the dough rise for 60-90 minutes.

Shape into loaves and brush the top of them with the remaining egg mixed with water (a bit of honey or salt can also be added). Let the loaves rise for an additional hour, then bake at 350F for about 35 minutes. You can rebrush the loaves with the egg wash halfway through the baking if desired to cover the braid expansion.

Helpful notes:
- If you're making the full recipe, note that the dough might overwhelm your mixer.
- Every time I've baked this recipe, I've used all-purpose flour and it's been fine. One of these days I'll get some bread flour and see if there's any difference in taste.
- I have successfully made this challah using Egg Beaters/egg substitute in place of the eggs. Today's loaves (made with half the recipe) used 1 egg plus some Egg Beaters.
- For today's loaves, I put the egg wash on just prior to baking. I lost some braid definition, but the crust is shinier.

*If you have a family member who's in the habit of turning on the oven without checking if anything is inside it and/or doesn't understand that bread has to rise in a warm place (like an oven), I suggest putting a large sign on the oven door at this point.